Hostage — Rachel Manija Brown; Sherwood Smith

Welcome back to Las Anclas, a frontier town in the post-apocalyptic Wild West. In Las Anclas, the skull-faced sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can speed up time, and the squirrels can teleport sandwiches out of your hands. In book one, Stranger, teenage prospector Ross Juarez stumbled into town half-dead, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble -- including an invasion by Voske, the king of Gold Point. The town defeated Voske's army, with the deciding blow struck by Ross, but at a great cost. In Hostage, a team sent by King Voske captures Ross and takes him to Gold Point. There he meets Kerry, Voske's teenage daughter, who has been trained to be as ruthless as her father. While his friends in Las Anclas desperately try to rescue him, Ross is forced to engage in a battle of wills with the king himself.